Forget Apple, look at Google's stock

Apple may be getting all the headlines these days but investors might want to take a closer look at Google's stock.

Shares of Google (GOOG) hit a new 52-week high, and are sitting comfortably above $700 -- the same mark that Apple (AAPL) briefly topped Tuesday. (Google first crossed that lofty level earlier this month.)

Both tech giants have a lot going for them. Apple's "iProducts" can do no wrong. And Google is by far the dominant search engine (sorry Bing).

Google had a rough youth but seems to have hit its stride lately. The stock is now just 4% below its 2007 all-time record of $747.

The race to dominate the smartphone market is a close one. Just last month, research firm IDC reported that Google's Android had gained a whopping 68% share of the global smartphone market during the second quarter. That's four times the 17% market share held by Apple.

cselland: I have never used Siri but the speech recognition on my Nexus 7 is stunningly good$GOOG

newsagg: $GOOG just bought Nik but Snapseed is NOT an Instagram-like photo-sharing tool as some reporting. Awesome hi end edit tool though.

It would seem that Google has managed to carve out a nice niche in the smartphone arena, which should help keep it on the right path.

And while the search giant has been known to occasionally misspend, investors appear to be pretty forgiving of those missteps. After all, Google is only 14 years old. Even teenagers can learn from their mistakes.

Catherine Tymkiw is a news editor at CNNMoney where she helps oversee breaking news coverage and futures planning. Previously, she was the investing editor. Prior to joining CNNMoney, she was the online editor at Crain's New York Business and has nearly two decades of reporting and editing experience. She tweets @ctymkiwcnn